by Michael Hatfield
1/200 Prinz Eugen (Scratchbuilt)
This is a scratch-built Prinz Eugen as she appeared immediately prior to Operation Rhine, May 1941. I used a set of Taubman Plans, augmented by the photos at PrinzEugen.com and an old, previously-built 1/600 Airfix model of her. She has Gold Medal Models photoetch.
The hull is basswood planks over a brass and plastic keel and frames, then covered with fiberglass. The decks are aluminum-plate reinforced plastic, with Midwest Products micro-lumber planks. The walls and bulkheads are sheet plastic, and the various weapons and range finders are made from plastic, brass, and wood. The port/starboard lamps, on both the ship and the airplane, are made from crushed glass bead shards. Her case is so large that the local Lowe's couldn't cut the glass -- it had to be done by a glass specialty shop. I completed her in three phases over seven years.
My stepfather was present at Operation Crossroads, at Bikini Atoll where Prinz Eugen was subjected to the atomic bomb tests, and he had told me that he thought that Prinz Eugen was the best-looking warship he had ever seen. I've long been interested in German naval architecture, and the Hipper Class appeared to be one of the best examples, so I modeled her.
